Thursday, December 15, 2011

Hector O. Johnson, Unfortunate Soldier

Hector Johnson born February 1847 to Benjamin and Rachel (Bowmer) Johnson
At the young age of 14 (he lied,said he was 17) Hector joined the Union Army as private on November 5, 1861 at Camp Wolfford, KY and reported for muster at Camp Boyle, KY on January 1, 1862. I can just imagine the young boy's excitement as he embarked on this grand task, anticipating the adventures that lay ahead.Hector was assigned to Captain Bolin's,3rd Regiment, Ky Infantry( Co D)
This unit had been organized at Camp Dick Robinson, Ky., on October 8, 1861. Originally attached to Thomas' Command til November, 1861, then the 11th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, During the war this regiment would lose 6 Officers and 103 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 192 Enlisted men by disease. Total 301 lost.
Almost immedately on January 7th, the infantry unit set off for Renick's Creek, near Burkesville , and were on to the mouth of Greasy Creek on January 17 . The regiment moved to Nashville, Tenn.,March 18-25; then marched to Savannah, Tenn., and to Shiloh March 29-April 7.
Hector, however, was not at the famous Shiloh battle, He had become ill and was listed as absent with leave on March 10,1862, he is shown July 28th as disabled in Nashville and was apparently sent to a Lexington hospital. What ever his ailment was, it was a long recovery. He was still in the hospital on September 2, 1862 when the Confederate army returned to Lexington following the Battle of Richmond.
Major General Edmund Kirby Smith led 11,000 Confederate soldiers into the city, only to find that Union forces had destroyed their (Union) government stores and supplies before fleeing from the city. The sick and injured had been left at the hospital and were claimed as P.O.W. Hector was one of them. It appears that Hector never returned to service. His active military career appears to have lasted about 10 weeks.
He died on 19th May, 1936,Russell county, KY. His grave has a military service headstone.
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